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The EPA’s Pebble Blame Game

The agency digs deep for excuses—and not very good ones—to explain its veto of an Alaskan mine project.

By

Kimberley A. Strassel

May 21, 2015 7:24 p.m. ET

Government agencies have a certain descending order of excuses they employ as a scandal grows. When they reach the point of quibbling over semantics and blaming low-level employees, it’s clear they know they’ve got a problem.

The EPA has a problem: its pre-emptive veto of the Pebble Mine, a proposed project in southwest Alaska. The law says that Pebble gets to apply for permits, and the Army Corps of Engineers gets to give thumbs up or down. The EPA, a law unto itself, instead last year blocked the proposal before...